Chicago — Tanglewood, 1970

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Why this recording

The concert was part of a series produced by Bill Graham under the name The Fillmore at Tanglewood, and the video runs all the way to the promoter's closing announcements at 1:33. By then, the band's second album, released earlier that year, had peaked at number 4 on the Billboard 200. The chapters flag a free-form piano passage at 14:06 and a thirteen-minute version of “It Better End Soon” starting at 47:47. The encore, “I'm a Man”, begins at 1:23.

— Simon Janvier, live-sound professional and editor of the catalogue

Recording technical sheet

Rights-holding channelHeadliners
Broadcast
Uploaded
Exact runtime
ResolutionHD (720p+)

Metadata checked on YouTube on 29 September 2026.

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Published on August 31, 2026 by Simon Janvier

Full live concert of Chicago at Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts, on 21 July 1970. This filmed full concert, often issued as Chicago: Live at Tanglewood 1970, documents the band’s very first line-up — Terry Kath on guitar, Robert Lamm on keyboards, Peter Cetera on bass, the horn section of Lee Loughnane, James Pankow and Walter Parazaider, and Danny Seraphine on drums. By this date Chicago had just shortened its name from Chicago Transit Authority and was asserting its horn-driven jazz-rock, balancing improvisation with ambitious composition. The concert runs through classics from their early albums, from 25 or 6 to 4 to Beginnings and I’m a Man, up to the suite Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon that contains Make Me Smile and Colour My World. The performance highlights the incandescent playing of Terry Kath, a guitarist admired by Jimi Hendrix. A major historical document of American rock from 1970, filmed outdoors, essential for understanding the emergence of one of the best-selling bands of all time.

Setlist

  1. In the Country
  2. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?
  3. 25 or 6 to 4
  4. Poem for the People
  5. I Don't Want Your Money
  6. Mother
  7. It Better End Soon
  8. Beginnings
  9. Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon (Make Me Smile / Colour My World / To Be Free / Now More Than Ever)
  10. I'm a Man

Personnel & credits

  • Terry Kath — guitar, vocals
  • Robert Lamm — keyboards, vocals
  • Peter Cetera — bass, vocals
  • Lee Loughnane — trumpet
  • James Pankow — trombone
  • Walter Parazaider — woodwinds
  • Danny Seraphine — drums
Category

What to watch next

Neither Chicago nor Tanglewood, Lenox, Massachusetts (USA) appears elsewhere in the catalogue: what follows rests on the ground itself, Rock from the 1970s.

Same ground: Rock, the 1970s

The whole Rock catalogue